@article{choudoir_barberan_menninger_dunn_fierer_2018, title={Variation in range size and dispersal capabilities of microbial taxa}, volume={99}, ISSN={["1939-9170"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85041452927&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1002/ecy.2094}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={2}, journal={ECOLOGY}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Choudoir, Mallory J. and Barberan, Albert and Menninger, Holly L. and Dunn, Rob R. and Fierer, Noah}, year={2018}, month={Feb}, pages={322–334} }
 @article{craine_barberán_lynch_menninger_dunn_fierer_2016, title={Molecular analysis of environmental plant DNA in house dust across the United States}, volume={33}, ISSN={0393-5965 1573-3025}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10453-016-9451-5}, DOI={10.1007/s10453-016-9451-5}, number={1}, journal={Aerobiologia}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Craine, Joseph M. and Barberán, Albert and Lynch, Ryan C. and Menninger, Holly L. and Dunn, Robert R. and Fierer, Noah}, year={2016}, month={Jul}, pages={71–86} }
 @article{madden_barberán_bertone_menninger_dunn_fierer_2016, title={The diversity of arthropods in homes across the United States as determined by environmental DNA analyses}, volume={25}, ISSN={0962-1083 1365-294X}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.13900}, DOI={10.1111/mec.13900}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={24}, journal={Molecular Ecology}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Madden, Anne A. and Barberán, Albert and Bertone, Matthew A. and Menninger, Holly L. and Dunn, Robert R. and Fierer, Noah}, year={2016}, month={Nov}, pages={6214–6224} }
 @article{urban_fergus_savage_ehlers_menninger_dunn_horvath_2016, title={The effect of habitual and experimental antiperspirant and deodorant product use on the armpit microbiome}, volume={4}, ISSN={2167-8359}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1605}, DOI={10.7717/peerj.1605}, abstractNote={An ever expanding body of research investigates the human microbiome in general and the skin microbiome in particular. Microbiomes vary greatly from individual to individual. Understanding the factors that account for this variation, however, has proven challenging, with many studies able to account statistically for just a small proportion of the inter-individual variation in the abundance, species richness or composition of bacteria. The human armpit has long been noted to host a high biomass bacterial community, and recent studies have highlighted substantial inter-individual variation in armpit bacteria, even relative to variation among individuals for other body habitats. One obvious potential explanation for this variation has to do with the use of personal hygiene products, particularly deodorants and antiperspirants. Here we experimentally manipulate product use to examine the abundance, species richness, and composition of bacterial communities that recolonize the armpits of people with different product use habits. In doing so, we find that when deodorant and antiperspirant use were stopped, culturable bacterial density increased and approached that found on individuals who regularly do not use any product. In addition, when antiperspirants were subsequently applied, bacterial density dramatically declined. These culture-based results are in line with sequence-based comparisons of the effects of long-term product use on bacterial species richness and composition. Sequence-based analyses suggested that individuals who habitually use antiperspirant tended to have a greater richness of bacterial OTUs in their armpits than those who use deodorant. In addition, individuals who used antiperspirants or deodorants long-term, but who stopped using product for two or more days as part of this study, had armpit communities dominated by Staphylococcaceae, whereas those of individuals in our study who habitually used no products were dominated byCorynebacterium. Collectively these results suggest a strong effect of product use on the bacterial composition of armpits. Although stopping the use of deodorant and antiperspirant similarly favors presence of Staphylococcaceae overCorynebacterium, their differential modes of action exert strikingly different effects on the richness of other bacteria living in armpit communities.}, number={2}, journal={PeerJ}, publisher={PeerJ}, author={Urban, Julie and Fergus, Daniel J. and Savage, Amy M. and Ehlers, Megan and Menninger, Holly L. and Dunn, Robert R. and Horvath, Julie E.}, year={2016}, month={Feb}, pages={e1605} }
 @article{barberan_ladau_leff_pollard_menninger_dunn_fierer_2015, title={Continental-scale distributions of dust-associated bacteria and fungi}, volume={112}, ISSN={["1091-6490"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84928914690&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.1420815112}, abstractNote={Significance}, number={18}, journal={PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA}, author={Barberan, Albert and Ladau, Joshua and Leff, Jonathan W. and Pollard, Katherine S. and Menninger, Holly L. and Dunn, Robert R. and Fierer, Noah}, year={2015}, month={May}, pages={5756–5761} }
 @article{grantham_reich_pacifici_laber_menninger_henley_barberán_leff_fierer_dunn_2015, title={Fungi Identify the Geographic Origin of Dust Samples}, volume={10}, ISSN={1932-6203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122605}, DOI={10.1371/journal.pone.0122605}, abstractNote={There is a long history of archaeologists and forensic scientists using pollen found in a dust sample to identify its geographic origin or history. Such palynological approaches have important limitations as they require time-consuming identification of pollen grains, a priori knowledge of plant species distributions, and a sufficient diversity of pollen types to permit spatial or temporal identification. We demonstrate an alternative approach based on DNA sequencing analyses of the fungal diversity found in dust samples. Using nearly 1,000 dust samples collected from across the continental U.S., our analyses identify up to 40,000 fungal taxa from these samples, many of which exhibit a high degree of geographic endemism. We develop a statistical learning algorithm via discriminant analysis that exploits this geographic endemicity in the fungal diversity to correctly identify samples to within a few hundred kilometers of their geographic origin with high probability. In addition, our statistical approach provides a measure of certainty for each prediction, in contrast with current palynology methods that are almost always based on expert opinion and devoid of statistical inference. Fungal taxa found in dust samples can therefore be used to identify the origin of that dust and, more importantly, we can quantify our degree of certainty that a sample originated in a particular place. This work opens up a new approach to forensic biology that could be used by scientists to identify the origin of dust or soil samples found on objects, clothing, or archaeological artifacts.}, number={4}, journal={PLOS ONE}, publisher={Public Library of Science (PLoS)}, author={Grantham, Neal S. and Reich, Brian J. and Pacifici, Krishna and Laber, Eric B. and Menninger, Holly L. and Henley, Jessica B. and Barberán, Albert and Leff, Jonathan W. and Fierer, Noah and Dunn, Robert R.}, editor={Rokas, AntonisEditor}, year={2015}, month={Apr}, pages={e0122605} }
 @article{epps_menninger_lasala_dunn_2014, title={Too big to be noticed: cryptic invasion of Asian camel crickets in North American houses}, volume={2}, ISSN={["2167-8359"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84907696747&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.7717/peerj.523}, abstractNote={Despite the rapid expansion of the built environment, we know little about the biology of species living in human-constructed habitats. Camel crickets (Rhaphidophoridae) are commonly observed in North American houses and include a range of native taxa as well as the Asian Diestrammena asynamora (Adelung), a species occasionally reported from houses though considered to be established only in greenhouses. We launched a continental-scale citizen science campaign to better understand the relative distributions and frequency of native and nonnative camel crickets in human homes across North America. Participants contributed survey data about the presence or absence of camel crickets in homes, as well as photographs and specimens of camel crickets allowing us to identify the major genera and/or species in and around houses. Together, these data offer insight into the geographical distribution of camel crickets as a presence in homes, as well as the relative frequency and distribution of native and nonnative camel crickets encountered in houses. In so doing, we show that the exotic Diestrammena asynamora not only has become a common presence in eastern houses, but is found in these environments far more frequently than native camel crickets. Supplemental pitfall trapping along transects in 10 urban yards in Raleigh, NC revealed that D. asynamora can be extremely abundant locally around some homes, with as many as 52 individuals collected from pitfalls in a single yard over two days of sampling. The number of D. asynamora individuals present in a trap was negatively correlated with the trap’s distance from a house, suggesting that these insects may be preferentially associated with houses but also are present outside. In addition, we report the establishment in the northeastern United States of a second exotic species, putatively Diestrammena japanica Blatchley, which was previously undocumented in the literature. Our results offer new insight into the relative frequency and distribution of camel crickets living in human homes, and emphasize the importance of the built environment as habitat for two little-known invading species of Orthoptera.}, number={1}, journal={PEERJ}, author={Epps, Mary Jane and Menninger, Holly L. and LaSala, Nathan and Dunn, Robert R.}, year={2014}, month={Sep} }
 @article{dunn_fierer_henley_leff_menninger_2013, title={Home Life: Factors Structuring the Bacterial Diversity Found within and between Homes}, volume={8}, ISSN={["1932-6203"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84878026801&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1371/journal.pone.0064133}, abstractNote={Most of our time is spent indoors where we are exposed to a wide array of different microorganisms living on surfaces and in the air of our homes. Despite their ubiquity and abundance, we have a limited understanding of the microbial diversity found within homes and how the composition and diversity of microbial communities change across different locations within the home. Here we examined the diversity of bacterial communities found in nine distinct locations within each of forty homes in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina, USA, using high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. We found that each of the sampled locations harbored bacterial communities that were distinct from one another with surfaces that are regularly cleaned typically harboring lower levels of diversity than surfaces that are cleaned infrequently. These location-specific differences in bacterial communities could be directly related to usage patterns and differences in the likely sources of bacteria dispersed onto these locations. Finally, we examined whether the variability across homes in bacterial diversity could be attributed to outdoor environmental factors, indoor habitat structure, or the occupants of the home. We found that the presence of dogs had a significant effect on bacterial community composition in multiple locations within homes as the homes occupied by dogs harbored more diverse communities and higher relative abundances of dog-associated bacterial taxa. Furthermore, we found a significant correlation between the types of bacteria deposited on surfaces outside the home and those found inside the home, highlighting that microbes from outside the home can have a direct effect on the microbial communities living on surfaces within our homes. Together this work provides the first comprehensive analysis of the microbial communities found in the home and the factors that shape the structure of these communities both within and between homes.}, number={5}, journal={PLOS ONE}, author={Dunn, Robert R. and Fierer, Noah and Henley, Jessica B. and Leff, Jonathan W. and Menninger, Holly L.}, year={2013}, month={May} }